Aw, shucks.

January 13, 2019

OK, so when I was in college, I took a web design class thinking it would either be an easy A for me since I was already doing web design, or I would learn some things. Also I just really liked web design so I wanted to have the excuse to make more websites. It turns out I learned a lot of things!

The instructor recognized that I already had web design skills, so he assigned me different projects and had me read “Designing with Web standards” by Jeffrey Zeldman. This was back in 2003. 16 years ago. That book totally changed how I think about designing for the web, which in turn, set me on a trajectory for my career.

In 2007, I was stunned when Zeldman emailed me out of the blue to speak at his conference. It was my second only speaking engagement, and it was at An Event Apart which is one of the most notable web conferences in America. I was shaking and nervous and admitted to him that I was super new to speaking. Before he introduced me on stage, he hugged me and told me he was honored to be at the beginning my speaking career, which he was sure would be a long one. I've now been speaking 13 years! And thankfully I’ve gotten a lot better.

I have looked up to Zeldman for 16 years.

Yesterday I relaunched my website.

And here are his comments. I hope he won’t mind me sharing this. I am so excited and gleeful right now. 😁